Robert C. Juneau Glacier Reporter Letter to the Editor 12-26-13

Glacier Reporter Letter to the Editor   

12-26-13

Robert C. Juneau  

To The Editor:   

I was reading a article entitled Whiteness As Property published in the Harvard Law Review and on page 1721-1722 it says,"Although the Indians were the first occupants and possessors of the land of the New World, their racial and cultural otherness allowed this fact to be reinterpreted and ultimately erased as a basis for asserting rights in land.  Because the land had been left in its natural state, untilled and unmarked by human hands, it was "waste" and, therefore, the appropriate object of settlement and appropriation.  Thus, the possession maintained by the Indians was not "true" possession and could safely be ignored. This interpretation of the rule of first possession effectively rendered the rights of first possessors contingent on the race of the possessor.  Only particular forms of possession those that were characteristic of white settlement-would be recognized and legitimated.  Indian forms of possession were perceived to be too ambiguous and unclear.  The Blood Quantum issue relates to this because without Tribal recognition Blackfeet Descendant land will be vulnerable to taxation by the State of Montana.  The 

State of Montana has already taken half a million acres of Blackfeet land and Mineral Rights.  If the State of Montana legally takes land from a Blackfeet Descendant the Blackfeet Tribe can never get it back.  The Blackfeet Tribe could lose possibly up to another quarter of it's landbase.  If you study the History of the United States debt has always been a effective means for State governments to get tribal lands.  If the Blackfeet Descendants were enrolled the land would be safe under Federal recognition and in Tribal Trust.  The tribe would get more money in State Compacts on things like taxes on gas, alcohol, and tobacco.  Right now the tribe gets nothing for Descendants because only Enrolled Members are counted in agreements.  The Blackfeet would get more money for Treaty Obligation Funds which would mean more money for all Federal programs serving the Blackfeet on the Reservation.  The choice is simple enroll the Blackfeet Descendants and get more money and land ensuring the survival of the tribe long into the future.  Or keep going with Blood Quantum and lose all of our land, members, and go extinct.  The answer to this problem is for the Blackfeet Enrolled Members to sign the B.E.A.R. Petition and let the issue come to a Secretarial Vote.